To tie the knot - Malfoy style
by Kerstin2302
Summary: war-AU/After Hogwarts: Draco had a clear plan for getting through the war: "Keep your head down". Now he is being pushed to make a decision, that will change his live forever, from both sides. What will he do?


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the beautiful universe JK Rowling created.**

_**Preface**_

Draco looked up at his mentor. The only one in this whole mess he could truly trust. Did he really understand him correctly? This could not be true. He had his plan, for getting through this war alive, all worked out: 'Keep your head down. Don't volunteer for anything and if you are asked to do something anyhow, just get it over with, no questions asked.' What Snape now told him would crush this plan into nothingness, IF he chose to go through with it.

"Just to be sure that I understand you correctly Severus. You really are telling me that the Order of Phoenix is prepared to over me immunity and nearly anything else I might demand, if I convince the Dark Lord that I should marry Hermione Granger?" Severus looked at his godson thoughtfully and swirled his firewhiskey in his glass a few times. He debated with himself for the last week, if he should even tell Draco about this or just tell the Order that Draco was not interested or not eligible for the task they had in mind for him. Not that Draco was a member of the Order, far from in fact. Draco was branded with the dark mark just this summer, right after graduating Hogwarts. There was not really a chance around it for Draco. Sure he could have run away and hide in order to not get sucked in to the war, but chances of living through a choice like this were slim as Severus knew. Hence, he advertised Draco against it, when he came to Severus asking for help. Since then Severus tried to keep Draco as much out of the line of fire as he could, which proved to be harder than one might think. With a father who was the right hand man of the Dark Lord, an deranged aunt who treats the man (if you can call him that) like a god and is sadly, despite her craziness, deathly efficient and a godfather who was his trusted spy and one of the best potion masters currently alive, the Dark Lord showed an interest in Draco's development early on.

"Severus?" Draco asked when Severus seemed lost in thought. "Well, you know that the Order is not in a good position, with the new law that got past last week. You have to hand it to your father, it was a well thought out plan, the Dark Lord is very pleased. In the end the Order can only hope to secure a husband for Miss Granger which poses the least possible threat to her. They know that you are in a position to ask for her hand in marriage, due to your connections to the inner circle. At the same time, they hope, that you won't be physically violent towards her as most of the other candidates might be. Your aversion to unnessecery violence has been noted on both sides and while the Dark Lord seems to think you will grow in your own over time, the Order habors hope for at least a cooperation. I don't have to tell you about the consequences for Miss Granger in being married to other eligible canidates like Damien Nott or Silas McNair."

No, Severus didn't have to tell Draco what the consequences would be, but he really didn't want to do this. It's not like he was on the Dark Lords side in his heart. That wasn't it at all, but he wasn't on the Orders side either. He still thought that muggles didn't belong into the wizarding world and mugglebornes stood clearly below purebloods in his book. He just doesn't see the reason for violence, and to be perfectly honest he didn't have the stomach for it. But what should he do now? If he made a deal with the order and did this, he knew that his chances for keeping his head down went from minimal to zero. "I don't see myself doing this, Severus" "You don't have to make a decision right now. Listen to their offer and see what else you can get out of it. In the end you don't have to do anything. If you decide against doing this, they can do nothing at all and the Dark Lord will be none the wiser."

**AN: Okay, this is my first try ever to do a fanfiction story. I would love some feedback about how I am doing. I am sure you will find mistakes in my work, because I am not a English native speaker, but all fanfiction I read myself has been in English, so it would feel wrong to do a story in German myself. Feel free to tell me if I make mistakes, that way I know not to do them again.**

**Best wishes**

**Kerstin**


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